Hear and see in Khe Son
Khe Son is the name of a hamlet of 322 households and 1,335 Thai ethnic people in Dong Van commune, Tan Ky district. The day we arrived here, it was the occasion for the Tan Ky district People's Committee to inspect the newly completed 7th domestic water tank. There, along with Tan Ky district officials, Dong Van commune officials, and Khe Son hamlet officials, there were also small children. Seeing the children happily playing in the clear water touched the joy of the people of Khe Son hamlet.
Also next to those clear streams of water, Mr. Vi Xuan Tiep - Head of Khe Son Hamlet said that for many years, the problem of clean water for daily life of the people in the hamlet has been very difficult. Digging wells, or even drilling wells in the garden, is also very difficult to find a water source. The economy of most Khe Son people is limited, with the cost of 25 - 30 million VND/well, not every household can afford it.
However, even if you have the money to hire a well driller, it is rare for a household to find a reliable source of water for daily use. Being a mountain dweller, there are streams and creeks around the village that can be used temporarily, but they dry up during the hot season.
Faced with the difficulty of people's domestic water, for many years, the Party Cell and the Executive Committee of Khe Son hamlet have proposed to superiors to find ways to bring water from the mountains. By 2023, the project was achieved as desired. From here, a system of tanks and settling tanks on the mountain was built and a pipeline system was installed to bring water to 7 tanks spread evenly in the hamlet's residential areas, ensuring sufficient supply for people to use.
“People are very happy to have water from the mountains for daily use. The tanks are built close to people’s houses for common use. Any family in need can hire a technician to pull the pipes to the waiting valves installed at the tanks to bring water home for use…”, Village Chief Vi Xuan Tiep happily said.
Mrs. Ha Thi Doai’s family is only about 20m from water tank No. 7. As a well-off household in Khe Son hamlet, her family used to dig a well and hire a well driller to have water for use. But like Hamlet Chief Vi Xuan Tiep, Mrs. Doai recounted many difficulties with clean water: “For many years, people have had to use water from streams and streams. My family is the same, having to go to streams and streams to bathe and wash, carry water for daily activities, eating and drinking…”
The reason is because, as Mrs. Doai said, in this area there are only rocks and rocks. Because there are so many rocks, digging a well is hard work. But even more difficult is that no matter how much effort and money you spend digging deep, you still may not find water. In the village, many families dig wells but cannot find water. Later, there was a movement to drill through rocks to find water, some families drilled 5-7 holes but still could not find water. Mrs. Doai's family was luckier because they drilled the right place with water. "My family drilled the first well in the village. It was 6-7 years ago, and it cost 25 million VND at that time...", Mrs. Doai said.
Asked Mrs. Doai, if there is well water, do we use water from the mountain? Mrs. Doai smiled happily: “Of course. In remote and difficult areas, the superiors will bring water from the reservoir (mountain - PV) for us to use. Thank you very much, superiors. I am also planning to install a pipeline to bring it home. The water from the reservoir is guaranteed, and we do not have to pay for electricity…”.
Born and raised in Dong Van, Party Secretary Nguyen Van Khanh is well aware of the people's thirst for water. According to Khanh, Dong Van is a place where "it's not even summer yet but it's already dry". Among them, the residential areas of Khe Son and Dong Tam hamlets are the most difficult. Because these places are rocky, right under the fertile soil layer is rock, so even if you drill deep, it's difficult to find a water source.
Then, through labor and production, the people know clearly how many streams and creeks there are on the high mountain range; which streams and creeks are large and have enough water to dam water, build tanks and install pipes to bring water back. For many years, the Party Committee and the commune government have wanted their superiors to allow Khe Son and Dong Tam hamlets to carry out projects to bring domestic water from the mountains to the people. And then, Khe Son hamlet had a project to bring water from Na Huoi waterfall on Bu Khua mountain; Dong Tam hamlet had a project to bring water from Chieng stream on Bu Chieng mountain...
Water supply system from high mountains
Standing on the edge of Khe Son hamlet, one can see the Bu Khua mountain range. Ask the officials of Tan Ky district and Dong Van commune, on such a high mountain, how can one find a suitable location to build a reservoir system?
Secretary of the Dong Van Commune Party Committee, Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh, said that when he learned that Khe Son and Dong Tam hamlets would be implementing the domestic water project, the commune mobilized cadres to coordinate with the hamlets' forces to go up the mountain, following Chieng and Na Huoi streams to find locations that would ensure enough space for construction. For example, in Bu Khua mountain, from the trips up the mountain, 2 suitable locations were found. After that, Tan Ky district continued to organize a working group to survey and re-evaluate, and decided to choose a higher location, about 800m above sea level to ensure the pressure to bring water to the tanks in residential areas.
Knowing that Khe Son Hamlet Chief Vi Xuan Tiep was a participant in the survey of the construction site of the water project on Bu Khua Mountain, we asked him for instructions on how to use the flycam to record images. On the morning of June 10, 2025, the weather was clear. Thanks to that, through the flycam, we could clearly see the silvery white water curtain of Na Huoi waterfall, the spillway system and the reservoir complex.
To help us understand the project, the staff of the Tan Ky District Construction Investment Project Management Board explained that on Bu Khua mountain, a nearly 5m high, 1.4m high, 0.8m wide at the top, spillway walls are built with 4-7m long reinforced concrete shoulders. Attached to the spillway is a large tank with 3 compartments to perform the functions of settling, filtering and storing. From the tank on the mountain to the 7 tanks of Khe Son village, the length is up to 5,082m, so the pipeline all uses HDPE PE100-PN20 pipes with diameters from 0.9mm, 0.75mm; the pipes leading to the 7 tanks also use the same material, with a diameter of 0.5mm to ensure meeting the people's domestic water needs.
As an officer of the Tan Ky District Construction Investment Project Management Board directly implementing water projects on high mountains, Mr. Phan Van Nha said that these projects are associated with the goal of strengthening infrastructure, meeting the needs of domestic water for local people, and gradually completing the goals of building new rural areas.
From the end of 2023 to present, along with Khe Son and Dong Tam hamlets of Dong Van commune, the Board has also implemented two similar water supply systems in Tien Ky commune, providing quality domestic water for the school system, medical stations... and people in Chieng village, Phay village - Thai Minh.
Mr. Phan Van Nha added: “Similar to the project for Khe Son village, the projects in Dong Tam hamlet, Chieng village, Phay - Thai Minh village were also built on the mountain to bring water back. On those high mountains, we have to find a location for the project, transfer materials to build a spillway system, a sedimentation tank system to ensure capacity as well as water quality…”.
Leaving Khe Son hamlet, we visited Phay - Thai Minh village. Here, we also heard about the difficulties in domestic water. Because the water from dug wells and drilled wells is not hygienic, the people of Phay - Thai Minh village have been waiting for support from the State. From around 2008 - 2009, the leaders of the Provincial Ethnic Committee visited the people, together with the district and commune, to survey and determine that there are water sources in the high mountains that can meet the needs of the people, aiming to implement a clean water project.
However, to bring water to a large residential area in Tien Ky commune, a large amount of funding is needed. This stage still has many difficulties, so the idea is only coming up but cannot be implemented. However, thanks to that, when there is funding from the National Target Program for Socio-Economic Development of Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas, the water project was proposed and approved by superiors.
In Phay - Thai Minh village, La Van Duc, the Party Secretary of the village, was one of the people who went up the mountain to survey the location for the construction of the spillway and the reservoir system. Duc said that when he learned that the superiors had approved the project to provide domestic water to the people, the commune immediately organized the survey. Going up the mountain was not difficult, because there was a path for the people. But finding the construction location and finding a suitable route to install the water pipeline was very complicated. The reason was that we had to cross many dangerous high cliffs.
“I led the district survey team along the forest trails. For those familiar with the forest, it only took a little over an hour, but for the team, it took several hours. The location chosen to build the spillway was about 850m high, while the reservoir location was a little lower…”, Mr. Duc summarized.
In Phay - Thai Minh village, talking with Party cell Secretary La Van Duc was also Head of the Front Work Subcommittee Vi Van Ngoc. According to Mr. Ngoc, up to now, it has been the second year that Phay - Thai Minh villagers have been using domestic water from a state-invested project. The water from the mountain is guaranteed to be stable and of good quality, unlike most well water that is contaminated with lime and alum.
Mr. Vi Van Ngoc said: “People are very excited because they no longer have to worry about domestic water. Water from the mountains is basically stable, ensuring quality without incurring any costs…”.
"Projects that really benefit the people"
As an officer assigned to be in charge of implementing projects to bring water from the high mountains to the people of Dong Tam, Khe Son, Chieng, Phay - Thai Minh hamlets, Mr. Nguyen Van Thuc - Vice Chairman of Tan Ky District People's Committee said that these are "projects that are truly beneficial to the people".
To implement these projects, Tan Ky district, together with the Ethnic Committee (old), Dong Van and Tien Ky communes, carefully surveyed the feasibility. From assessing water quality, surveying construction sites, determining the capital source of the program... to propose to the Provincial People's Committee for permission to implement. During the implementation process, Tan Ky district set out high requirements for quality and efficiency. Specifically, the implementation requirements must ensure the quality of spillways, tanks, filtration systems, pipelines, outlets...; ensuring that all people in need in the project implementation area must enjoy the project.
At the same time, the district assigned the responsibility to the Project Management Board as well as the consulting unit and contractor to absolutely not let the project invest ineffectively, causing waste of resources. During the project implementation process, the district leaders, related departments and the two communes are responsible for regularly checking and urging the progress, quality and effectiveness of the project. Thanks to that, the water supply projects, although having to be constructed in unfavorable conditions, have all promoted their effectiveness, ensuring the essential needs for domestic water for ethnic minority and mountainous people in the two communes of Dong Van and Tien Ky.
Vice Chairman of Tan Ky District People's Committee Nguyen Van Thuc added: "We are very happy that these projects have been effective, have improved the quality of domestic water, and protected the health of people in the project area. Also through the implementation of the project, it has contributed to creating trust among the people, especially the people in the area who benefit from the project, to trust in the special policies of the Party and the State...".
Source: https://baonghean.vn/giai-con-khat-cho-dan-miet-nui-tan-ky-10299744.html
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